Tuesday, December 18, 2012

At the Overland Literary Blog, essayist Jeff Sparrow has come to grips with the Newtown, Connecticut grade school massacre by priming the pump of his soul and pouring out some very wise waters from which I urge you all to drink deeply, and be refreshed. Titled 'When the Burning Moment Breaks': Gun Control and Rage Massacres, Sparrow's lengthy essay covers the subject from every conceivable angle. He puts all the various elements in their proper historical contexts, examining each separate issue - the political, the economic, the medical and even the aesthetic - with an informed, scholarly detachment that doesn't prevent him from offering keen and valuable insights. Never cliched, ever engrossing and - in my opinion - absolutely essential reading. If you only read one analysis of this sad chapter in US history, let it be this one.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Thrill at the noisome blast of light,
O yeah! Hell Yeah!
Come careering out of the night
Of Gun! Yo Gun!
Yo Gun! Yo Gun! Come overnight delivery
From Ithaca and from Arcadia M&T!
Remington and Browning, with blocks and guards
And clips of ammo for thy arms.
Or via mail, First Class, from overseas
To me, to me,
Come from Hartmann and Weiss
(Hot as fire, cold as ice)
Come from Mauser, Krupp, Heckler and Koch,
Weigh heavy on my thigh, extend my crotch,
In the moon of the woods, from tree-top mount,
Explode the night with gushing crimson fount!
Striding through the halls, my hate I pray,
Ejaculating sermons from my Walther PPK,
The soul that grips this steel of blue,
And brings a sudden end to folks like you,
The Master of the Bush, the vintage Colt,
Poke holes from which will spill both life and soul
As body and as brains spread cross the floor,
(Yo Gun! Yo Gun!)
Give thanks to Umarex and to SIG Sauer,
O yeah! Hell Yeah!
Come like cannonading cannon ball
From shopping mall!
Come like crashing drums, precision tools
From every school!
Spitting hot lead pips from pipe!
Through flesh so ripe…
You, who sit and shop and learn
With life galore within you left to burn
Your bodies, growing weary of this life,
Your burden borne away by Armalite -
Come, O come!
I am numb
With the lonely lust of devildom.
Pumping sweet lead through steaming guts,
All-devourer, kicker-in-the-nuts;
Give me the sign of Open, Blinking Eye,
Slap heavy metal meat against my thigh,
And the word of madness and mystery,
O Gun! Yo Gun!
Yo Gun! Yo Gun Gun! Gun Gun! Gun,
I am a man:
Do as I will, as a Great God can,
O Gun! Yo Gun!
Yo Gun! Yo Gun Gun! I am awake
In the grip of the snake.
With Desert Eagle, bead is drawn;
As God withdraws:
The Great Beast comes, Yo Gun! Like a horny
Erection in the morn’
In uniform.
I am Gun! Yo Gun! Yo Gun Gun! Gun!
I am thy death, this is my fun,
God of the Glock, I am old, but I am god,
Like flesh and bone ker-smashed with iron rod.
On hooves of steel I stride towards your doom
Though it be early morning or High Noon.
And I rave; and I rape and I rip and I rend
Everlasting, world without end,
Mech-Tech, Majestic, Sako and Magnum,
See the might of my Gun.
Yo Gun! Yo Gun Gun! Gun! Yo Gun!

Friday, December 14, 2012

As the most ideologically pure small-c conservative ever to reside at 24 Sussex, there is one thing about which we can be absolutely certain when it comes to our nation’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper: he hates the CBC. He despises it with a deep and abiding malice, viewing it as a socialist-infiltrated cesspit of secular humanism, a seething hive of nepotistic cronies, almost wholly without merit, delivering a service that would be better left to private sector entrepreneurs like SUN Media to provide. It’s just the way his brain is wired. And when you reinforce this inborn predisposition with years of Clockwork Orange style indoctrination at some of the hemisphere’s most reactionary think tanks, it’s almost like it isn't even really his fault.

Unfortunately for Dear Leader, one of the only things most Canadians agree on is that they want him to keep his greasy mitts off the CBC. In every poll, and by every metric, our national broadcaster continues to be one of the most popular federal agencies going, from sea to sea to sea. Although this political reality has forced the PM to keep a tight lid on his true feelings, he does occasionally slip up. For instance, he could barely contain his glee this week when it was announced that the loss of this NHL season could cost the CBC $130 million in ad revenues.

So, public displays of schadenfreude and stealth budget cuts notwithstanding, the bottom line for now is that the CBC isn't going anywhere. Of course, that doesn't mean it’s in the clear. For instance, what if Prime Minister Harper were to suddenly shed his predilections, override all those years of brainwashing and come to the shattering realization that he’d be in a far better position to spread the Good News of conservative dogma to every corner of this great country… from deep INSIDE the Mothership?! What would a typical, average day of CBC programming look like if that were to happen, I wonder?

Mount Royal has been accepted for competition in "Books at Berlinale" and the Berlinale Co-Production Market. “Books at Berlinale” is a joint initiative of the Berlin International Film Festival and the Frankfurt Book Fair. During the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival (February 7-17, 2013) within the framework of the Berlinale Co-Production Market, the 8th edition of “Books at Berlinale” will take place in order to further strengthen the network between the film and the book industries. Mount Royal will be among the official entries to be considered for film co-production.

Many projects have found financing in Berlin during the past eight editions of the Berlinale Co-Production Market. In the meantime, more than 140 projects from previous years are already in production or have been completed, and many more are underway.

Some exciting films that successfully found co-production funding at the Berlinale Co-Production Market returned to celebrate their premieres at the Berlinale: Olivia Silver’s Arcadia won the Crystal Bear at Generation Kplus. Barnaby Southcombe’s I, Anna, starring Charlotte Rampling and Gabriel Byrne, screened at Berlinale Special; and Sharqiya by Ami Livne was presented at Panorama. Films that premiered this year also include Hiam Abbass' directing debut Inheritance, which screened at Venice Days, Pelin Esmer's Watchtower which was presented at Toronto, Keep Smiling by Rusudan Chkonia which was selected for Karlovy Vary and Venice.

Thanks to everyone who's made the ebook version of MOUNT ROYAL: There's Nothing Harder Than Love such a success!

XMAS GIFT SPECIAL!

The Mount Royal ebook is out on Kindle, ibooks, Kobo, Nook, Android, Sony e-reader, pdf, and whatever other format you want to download onto your device - or onto your PC or Mac. For the holidays only, Phosphorus Books is offering the e-book for just $4.00 To buy your special offer copy, go to:MOUNT ROYAL: There's nothing harder than love

Once you are at the page, click on "Add To Cart" and follow the prompts to create a membership. It only takes a moment. When asked for a coupon code, enter: NA69B ... You can then download a copy in the format you like for the e-reader of your choice, or for your PC or Mac!

Saturday, December 1, 2012

American International Pictures (AIP) was legendary for churning out
an endless stream of product for the nation's movie theater and drive-in
screens. They made them fast, and they made them cheap, and most of the
time, it was easy to tell. However, hidden among the rock and roll
beach romps and teenage werewolves, aliens and cavemen, one occasionally
finds the odd shining gem. 1968’s Generation Gap “youthsploitation”
satire Wild in the Streets is one such gem.